Issues and Debates Flashcards
(AO1) gender bias
*alpha bias = over exaggeration of gender differences. E.g. Chodorow (1968) alpha bias favours women in psychodynamic approach, said mums and daughters have better connections due to biological similarities therefore women develop greater bonds with others
*beta bias = under representation of gender differences. e.g fight or flight response. more recent research by Taylor (2000) found that women are more likely to tend and befriend response. this illustrates how research that minimises gender differences may result in misrepresentation of women’s behaviour.
*androcentrism = male dominated version of the world. women behaviour has been misunderstood.
(AO3) gender bias
*Limitation = gender differences often presented as fixed. Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) published many studies portraying women to have better verbal ability and men have better spatial. this was accepted until Joel et al (2015) used brain scanners and found no such sex difference in brain structure. demonstrates that some research is not biologically factual and may be social stereotypes
*Limitation = sexism in research. Murphy et al (2014) found more lecturers in psych departments are men. this means research is more likely to be conducted by men. Nicolsen (1995) explained this as male researchers may expect women to be irrational and unable to complete complex tasks.
*Limitation. research is not published. Formanowicz et al (2018) analysed 1000 articles relating to gender bias. found gender bias research is published less often. fewer scholars become aware and do not apply to their own work therefore gender bias always remains and underlying issue.
(AO1) culture bias *****
*cultural bias - tendency to judge all other cultures and individuals in terms of ur own cultural assumptions
*cultural relativism - View that behaviour, morals and standards can’t be judged properly unless viewed in the context of the culture in which they originate.
-alpha bias = psychologists overlook universals
-beta bias = psychologists undermine cultural differences. E.g. sz hearing voices is more common in African cultures where hearing voices is a sign of spirits. Therefore, individuals more likely to openly report to psychiatrist. By assuming the same rules universally, people might be diagnosed incorrectly due to culture.
*ethnocentrism - superiority of ones own culture group. E.g. ainsworth strange situation. 75% secure in UK but only 50% in Japan. (Takahashi)
*Etic approach - looks at behaviour outside a given culture.
*Emic approach - looks at behaviour from inside a culture . Behaviour is specific to that culture.
*imposed etic - ainsworths findings. Looked at behaviour inside the culture but generalised universally .
(AO3) culture bias *****
*strength to show culutral bias. Henrich et al (2010) reviewed hundreds of studies. 68% came from US. 96% came from industrial nations. Developed the acronym W.E.I.R.D. (Western, educated people from industrial, rich democracies) and this was base for ppts. Strengthened by Arnett (2008) where 80% of research ppts were undergrad students
*limitation. Many original influential studies are cultural based. For example, Asch, Milgram etc. Bond and Smith (1996) found that those in collectivist countries demonstrated high conformity rather than individualistic countries.
*strength. Helped the emerge of cultural psychology. Academics now meet and discuss ideas at international conferences which helps reduce ethnocentrism. Therefore, modern psych far more aware of cultural bias
*limitation. Had led to prejudice against groups of people in the past. Gould (1981) discovered the types of questions WW1 pilots were asked on an IQ test. They involved questions about naming US presidents. Out of 1.75 million answers, those from south east Europe and African Americans inevitable did worse and were given low IQ scores. Demonstrates discrimination as it was unfair
(AO1) free will and determinism *****
*free will - everyone is self determining and free to choose thoughts and actions.
*soft determinism - allows some element of free will but suggests all events have a cause
*hard determinism - everything we do is a result of internal and external influences and these are beyond our control. No room for free will.
*biological determinism - our internal biological forces cause behaviour like genes/ autonomic nervous system and that we cannot have free will
* psychic determinism - adult behaviour is a result from innate drives and childhood experiences.
*environmental determinism - all behaviour is caused through classical and operant conditioning. These are external forces over which we have no control.
(AO3) free will vs determinism *****
*strength for determinism. Libet et al (1983) ppts chose random moment to flick their wrist. It was found that the subconscious brain activity was present about 1/2 a second before ppts consciously moved demonstrating bio and psychic determinism
*counterpoint for Libet. Just because the action comes before conscious awareness doesn’t mean there was no decision to act.
*free will has practical value. Roberts et al (2000) found correlation of adolescents who believed in determinism are less optimistic and more likely to become depressed in the future.
(AO1) nature / nurture debate
*nature - all human characteristics are innate. Biological factors/ physical characteristics
*nurture - influence of environment to study genetics, concordance rates
*interactionist approach - human characteristics are a result of both
*diathesis stress model
*epigenetics - change in genetic activity without change in genes themselves
(AO3) nature - nurture debate
*strength. Use of adoption studies. MZ twins 100% DNA. easy to measure nature / nurture through concordance rates. For example, Rhee and Waldman (2002) found that genetic influence accounted for 41% of aggression. This can be countered tho as you can’t completely split nature and nurture as twins often treated similar.
*strength. Helped understand complexity of disorders like OCD. Nestadt (2010) put heterability rate of OCD at 0.76. Helped realise the importance that high heterability rate doesn’t mean that developing the disorder is inevitable, it is just a genetic weakness. Linked to diathesis stress model.
(AO1) Holism and reductionism
*Holism = looks at system / person as a whole. E.g. the brain
*reductionism = breaking things down. E.g. OCD had multiple different levels of explanation: social-cultural, psychological, physical, physiological, environmental, neurochemical
*bio reductionism - neurochemical, evolutionary, genetic
*environmental reductionism - all behaviour acquired through interactions in the environment
(AO3) Holism and reductionism
*strength of reductionism = scientific. Variables are operationalised. The experiments/observations conducted are reliable e.g. strange situation
*limitation of reductionism inside the brain. Lashley (1930) theory of equipotentiality. 10-50% cortex
*limitation of Holism in the brain. Fmri have found areas more oxygenated than others when presented with a stimuli
(AO1) idiographic vs nomothetic *****
*idiographic - study of individuals in great detail. Can understand human behaviour in a small number of participants. The detail is qualitative and focused on humanistic and psychodynamic approaches
*nomothetic - main aim is to create laws. Quantitative data. Structured questionnaires. Works with bio and behaviour approach. The results are objective.
(AO3) idiographic vs nomothetic *****
*strength of idiographic is that it contributes to nomothetic. The study of one individual like a case study like HM could shed further light onto general laws.
*strength for both is that they fit into the aims of science. Establish objectivity through the use of standardisation, control and statistical testing in the nomothetic approach. Also, the idiographic approach uses triangulation to strengthen validity
*limitation of nomothetic is that there is a loss of understanding to the individual. For example, knowing that there is a 1% lifetime risk of developing sz tells us little about what life is actually like with sz.
(AO1) Ethical implications and social sensitivity
*ethical implications - concern about the consequences that psych research could have
*social sensitivity - research with potential consequences that could directly hurt individual or to the class represented. Sieber and Stanley (1988) warn that the way research questions are phrased can influence how findings are interpretated. Informed consent, confidentiality and psych harm
(AO3) Ethical implications and social sensitivity
*strength. Certain groups like policy makers rely on research relating to socially sensitive topics/ areas for things like education, healthcare,crime etc. It is better to base policies from scientific research and therefore this lead to creation of office for national statistics who collect objective data about uk population, society and economy. This data can therefore be used in psych research
